November 4, 1983

Number: 80-01 (Revised)
File: Evaluations

SUBJECT: POLICIES REGARDING STUDENT EVALUATION

This policy statement, recommended by the Academic Senate at its meeting of December 6, 1979, and approved by the President on January 2, 1980, and modified in conformance with the Unit 3 Memorandum of Understanding in August 1983, is as follows:

POLICIES REGARDING STUDENT EVALUATION

Purpose:

Student evaluations serve two purposes: (1) as a source of information for faculty members, for improvement of teaching; and (2) as one source of information on teaching effectiveness for RTP purposes.

In considering teaching effectiveness for RTP purposes, the various evaluating agencies shall place the primary emphasis upon peer evaluation of teaching.  The summarized results of student evaluation of instruction shall "be used as one element in assessing the quality of instruction, but not as the sole indicator of such quality."

Scope and Frequency:

Every faculty member shall have at least two classes of reasonable size, representative of the faculty member's teaching assignment (lecture/discussion classes, laboratories, clinics, field work, and other activities), evaluated every semester. As many different courses and modes of instruction should be evaluated as will provide a fair sample of the faculty member's usual teaching assignments. Departments may require the evaluation of additional classes as they deem necessary, except that this policy must be uniformly applied among all the faculty of the department.

Access:

The summarized results of statistical student evaluations of instruction shall be given to the instructor and the department chair and shall be placed in the official faculty personnel files maintained in the Office of the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs--Academic Personnel.

Access to student evaluation data shall be limited to the faculty member evaluated, persons authorized by the faculty member/ and appropriate personnel committees.  In addition to the latter, school deans and directors may have access to these data when required by official University business.

Administration:

Student evaluations must be administered by non-faculty persons during the instructor's absence from class, and during the last three weeks of instruction in each semester.

In order to maintain confidentiality, the appropriate department staff member shall sort, package, and transport the evaluation materials in accord with instructions from the Test Office without showing the evaluation materials to anyone else or otherwise revealing any of the contents of these materials.

Each member of the faculty should allow evaluation, as specified by the University policy, under conditions which allow students freely and thoughtfully to evaluate the instructor's teaching effectiveness. Faculty members shall neither be present during the administration of questionnaires nor handle or see them until after the computer summarization is received from the Testing Office, except that page three (the written responses) may be given to the instructor after final grade sheets for the semester have been submitted. The original answer sheets shall be returned to the instructor, along with the printouts.

Questionnaire:

A three-page evaluation form shall be used for student evaluations.  The first page is to present the university-wide questions administered for all faculty, the second page (optional) is to present questions devised by individual departments to meet their particular needs, and the third page (optional) is to present opportunity for written responses and comments.

The ICES question bank shall be used as the source of the questions for the first and second pages. The attached form will be used as the first page.
The three separate page of the questionnaires will be handled respectively in the following ways:

1.  All data from the university-wide questionnaires, the first page, shall be forwarded to the individual faculty member concerned, the department chair, and to the Office of the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs--Academic Personnel for placement in the individual's official personnel file.

2. The second page--served for departmental questions--is optional. The Department RTP Committee may, at its option, forward to the School RTP Committee the results of the departmental questions. However, if a Department RTP Committee forwards these results for one candidate, it must do so for all candidates for that year. This will ensure that the same basis for judgment is used for all candidates from that department at all levels of review.

3.  The third page--written statement for the instructor's use only-is optional. If used, the results would be retained by the instructor, since presumably this part of the evaluation is for the instructor's benefit. A faculty member may, of course, submit the third page to his/her Department) RTP Committee with the request that the results be placed in his/her file.

Effective: Fall Semester, 1980

Attachment